The Applegater

Applegater Winter 2015 1 WINTER 2015 Volume 8, No. 4 Serving Jackson and Josephine Counties — Circulation: 10,500 Applegate Valley Community Newsmagazine Photo by Teya Jacobi www.applegater.org Applegate Valley Community Newspaper, Inc. P.O. Box 14 Jacksonville, OR 97530 Celebrating Years Nonprofit Org US Postage PAID Permit #125 Medford OR ECRWSS Local Postal Customer Locals work to save the Donomore Cabin ~ ~ ISSUE HOLIDAY - ARTS BY GAYLE LEWIS Photo above: The Donomore Cabin around 1935. Photo right: 2015 work group makes needed repairs to the old cabin. See Donomore Cabin, page 6 Local bands give back As part of our "arts" theme for this issue, we are featuring three local bands that give back to the community by playing f o r n o n p ro f i t o r g a n i z a t i o n events. For example, two of these groups—old favorites Stolen Moments and Colonel Mustard—have already provided music for Applegater fundraising events, among others. The third and newer group—The Evening Shades—has offered their services to the Applegater and hopes to showcase their talents to benefit other interested nonprofits. O h , t h o s e p r e c i o u s s t o l e n moments—relaxing with a loved one, a glass of wine, some good food, and, for greater enhancement, just the right music. e band "Stolen Moments," then, is aptly named. They love playing beautiful, emotional music in quiet settings, "music you would like to hear," says the band's upright-bass player, Walter Lindley, "if you were in an intimate nightclub, made of stone, on the Seine, in Paris, at midnight—or maybe music that you would like to hear at a beautiful winery in the Rogue Valley." at's one of the reasons the band specializes in playing at wineries—no surprise, says Walter, since all three band members—he, Conny Lindley on guitar and vocals, and Dan Fellman on guitar— Stolen Moments trio plays up to its name BY DIANA COOGLE like beautiful landscapes and good wine. Stolen Moments plays jazz st andards, the music of the 1920s, '30s, and '40s—songs by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Dorothy Fields, Duke Ellington, and others. ey play swing jazz, Latin jazz, Bossa Nova, and gypsy jazz. ey play "some French cafe kind of music" and Western swing songs. They play songs with lyrics that express the range of human emotions and relationships, songs with stories that Conny enjoys telling, through song. Stolen Moments plays the kind of music that swirls into your body with the wine so that you feel "bathed in love," as one listener put it. "It is very satisfying to make a See Stolen Moments, page 12 Do you remember Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, and Mr. Boddy? I'll give you a Clue. Okay, you got it—the characters in the board game that is so much fun. Now these characters have broken away from the board and are roaming free. ey have guitars and drums, and they're still a lot of fun. ey're the Colonel Mustard Band, and there's no mystery about them. Johnny Trujillo, bassist and vocalist, is Professor Plum; B. Wishes, guitarist and vocalist, is Miss Scarlet; Sandy Ficca, drummer, is Mr. Boddy; and Chris Graves, guitarist and vocalist, is Colonel Mustard himself. eir goal is to make people happy and have fun. Colonel Mustard Band is no mystery BY DIANA COOGLE See Colonel Mustard, page 13 A spontaneous day-trip to the Donomore Meadow in the fall of 2014 found the Donomore Cabin leaning and forlorn. Weather, neglect, and disinterest had taken its toll, and the cabin was no longer usable as a safe haven for hunters, hikers, and campers. With wonderful memories of stories and visits to the cabin, the Offenbacher family and a circle of friends decided that a work party would be a good way to spend some time together. During the planning process, lifelong residents, hikers, hunters, campers, history buffs, day-trippers, and photographers came forward to share their stories and enthusiasm. The group gathered at the cabin in July 2015 with a trailer filled with supplies and tools. ey brought food and drink for the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) hikers, who would walk out of the woods surprised by the "trail magic" at a place that is noted on some PCT information as "don't bother." Cowbells could be heard low in the meadow as hikers rested and socialized and workers tackled the day's list of cleanup and repair activities. e cattlemen's cabin overlooks the Donomore Meadow in the Rogue River- Siskiyou National Forest, in an area rich with history, where the PCT meanders through the State of Jefferson just south of the Oregon border. e story tells us that the Frenchman Donomore was building a barn in the meadow with the help of his friend Silvee, the Portuguese miner. Indians killed the men during the Humbug War in the summer of 1855. Settlers and miners continued to live, hunt, and mine in the area. e Saltmarsh and Freshour families built a line cabin in the meadow in the late 19 th century. ey grazed their cattle during the summer from their ranches in the Applegate and the Klamath. Around 1935, cattlemen from the Applegate, including members of the Offenbacher and Kubli families, built the Donomore Cabin, complete with glassed windows, porch, stove, piped-in water from the spring, and an outhouse higher in the fork of the meadow above the Freshour Cabin. Each summer, they released their cattle in the meadow to graze. ey would

• Cover